Interactive media frame display

• US 20040168118A1
• Filed: 07/01/2003
• Published: 08/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Glatzer, Asta L., Glenner, Steve, Wong, Curtis G., Drucker, Steven M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,739,597 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/500.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

The present invention provides a unique system and method that facilitates remote browsing, viewing, and manipulating any suitable number of media items from a host location. In particular, the invention involves pulling desired media items from one or more host locations to view and/or edit them on a remote interactive media display, thereby freeing up use of the host location/computer. The media items sent to the remote interactive media display via wireless or wired connection are easily edited, organized, and viewed in any suitable order, arrangement, and timed-cycle with respect to per item viewing as well as viewing of items coincident with a real time calendar. The media items can be annotated and otherwise modified from the remote display and saved to the host location. The remote interactive media frame also includes a local storage for storing media items, thereby facilitating portability of the media frame when disconnected from the host.

Claims

1. An interactive media frame display comprising:

a host component comprising at least one host media store; and

a media frame component that facilitates full interactivity by the user to remotely browse, manipulate, and view a plurality of media items stored the at least one media store by interfacing with the host component via a communication connection between the media frame component and the host component.

2. The interactive media frame display of claim 1, the host component comprising one or more host locations, the host locations comprising at least one of a server and a computer, such that each host location comprises at least one host media store.

3. The interactive media frame display of claim 2, the host locations being arranged in wireless network configuration with the media frame component.

4. The interactive media frame display of claim 2, the host locations being arranged in hard wired network configuration with the media frame component.

5. The interactive media frame display of claim 1, the communication component being at least one of a wireless connection and a hard wire connection.

6. The interactive media frame display of claim 1, the media frame component comprising an annotation component that annotates one or more media items with one or more metadata.

7. The interactive media frame display of claim 6, the metadata comprising at least one of intrinsic metadata and extrinsic metadata.

8. The interactive media frame display of claim 6, the annotation component comprising a metadata generation component.

9. The interactive media frame display of claim 8, the metadata generation component comprising an analyzing component that identifies properties respectively associated with the media items.

10. The interactive media frame display of claim 9, the analyzing component comprising a classifier.

11. The interactive media frame display of claim 9, the analyzing component comprising a pattern recognition component.

12. The interactive media frame display of claim 8, the metadata generation component generating new metadata based at least in part upon a cluster of media items retrieved from one or more host locations by analyzing the media items for at least one property common among them.

13. The interactive media frame display of claim 12, wherein analyzing the media items comprises at least one of face recognition, content analysis, and intrinsic metadata comparison.

14. The interactive media frame display of claim 1 comprising a local data store that stores one or more media items retrieved from one or more host locations.

15. The interactive media frame display of claim 1 comprising an interface component comprising at least one of a microphone component, one or more command buttons, and a touch screen.

16. The interactive media frame display of claim 15, the one or more command buttons corresponding to at least one of play, back, reverse, forward, stop, pause, menu, mode, edit mode, view mode, annotation function, order function, skip, populated metadata lists, file size, media item size, speed, time, date, volume, save, delete, scroll bar, scroll tool, and power.

17. The interactive media frame display of claim 1 comprising a microprocessor that controls, operates, and tracks retrieval of the one or more media items from one or more host locations.

18. The interactive media frame display of claim 1 the media items comprising at least one of a photograph, a picture, a video, a video clip, a song, a sound, a document, and an electronic mail message.

19. The interactive media frame display of claim 1, comprising one or more audio output components.

20. The interactive media frame display of claim 19, the one or more audio components being one or more speakers.

21. The interactive media frame display of claim 1, comprising a calendar functionality component whereby the one or more media items can be viewed coincident with a real time calendar based at least in part on metadata associated with the media items.

22. The interactive media frame display of claim 21, the calendar being located on at least one of the interactive media frame display and the host location.

23. The interactive media frame display of claim 1 is pocket-sized thereby facilitating transportability of viewing favorite media items.

44. A computer readable medium having stored thereon the system of claim 1.

48. The system of claim 1 wherein the interactive media frame display is implemented on a television.

49. The system of claim 48, wherein the television comprises at least two modes:

TV mode and passive mode, such that retrieving, viewing, browsing and manipulating media items pulled from the host location are performed in the passive mode.

24. A method of browsing, viewing and/or manipulating one or more media items from a remote interactive media frame display comprising:

retrieving one or more media items from at least one host location;

displaying the one or more media items on the interactive media frame;

receiving user input; and

performing one or more acts on the one or more media items based at least in part upon the user input.

25. The method of claim 24, comprising sending the one or more retrieved media items from the host location to the interactive media frame via a wireless connection.

26. The method of claim 24, comprising sending the one or more retrieved media items from the host location to the interactive media frame via a hard wired connection.

27. The method of claim 24, comprising detecting a user interface prior to receiving the user input.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein performing one or more acts to the one or more media items comprises at least one of the following:

annotating the one or more media items with one or more metadata;

viewing one or more favorite media items on the display for enjoyment;

ordering the one or more media items based at least in part upon any one of metadata and user preferences;

removing the one or more media items from the interactive media frame; and

storing the one or more media items in a local data store operably connected to the interactive media frame display.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein annotating the one or more media items with one or more metadata comprises:

selecting one or more media items; and

tagging the media items with metadata as a group and/or individually;

30. The method of claim 29, comprising storing the tagged media items in at least one of a local data store and a respective host media store.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein ordering the one or more media items based at least in part upon any one of metadata and user preferences comprises.

32. The method of claim 28, wherein viewing one or more favorite media items on the display comprises performing at least one of the following:

designating a percentage of media items having common metadata for viewing;

designating a viewing cycle in connection with at least one of an amount of viewable time per media item and a length of time one or more media items are available for viewing on the display.

33. The method of claim 28, wherein the one or more media items are viewed in at least one of individually, in clusters, whereby more than one media item is viewable at the same time, and in a slide show.

34. The method of claim 28, wherein the viewing of the one or more media items is in connection with a real time calendar, thereby facilitating a user to view desired media items at a desired time of year.

35. The method of claim 34, the calendar being located at the host location.

36. The method of claim 24, comprising sending changes made to the media items from the interactive media frame to the respective host location.

37. The method of claim 24, the media items in the interactive media frame comprising items retrieved from one or more host locations.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the respective media items comprise a host identifier metadata such that changes made to the media items are communicated to their respective host locations.

39. The method of claim 24, comprising searching for media items from one or more host locations that have metadata in common with a retrieved media item.

40. The method of claim 27, the user interface comprising at least one of one or more command buttons, an audio receiver component, and a touch screen.

41. The method of claim 40, the one or more command buttons comprising at least one of play, back, reverse, forward, stop, pause, menu, mode, edit mode, view mode, annotation function, order function, skip, populated metadata lists, file size, media item size, speed, time, date, volume, save, delete, scroll bar, scroll tool, and power.

42. The method of claim 40, the audio receiver component being a microphone.

46. The interactive media frame display of claim 42, comprising means for searching for media items from one or more host locations that have metadata in common with a retrieved media item.

47. The interactive media frame display of claim 42, the means for performing one or more acts to the one or more media items comprising at least one of the following:

means for annotating the one or more media items with one or more metadata;

means for viewing one or more favorite media items on the display for enjoyment;

means for ordering the one or more media items based at least in part upon any one of metadata and user preferences;

means for removing the one or more media items from the interactive media frame; and

means for storing the one or more media items in a local data store operably connected to the interactive media frame display.

50. The method of claim 24 implemented with respect to a television, wherein the remote interactive media frame is an interactive TV media frame.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein the television comprises at least two modes:

TV mode and passive mode, such that the method is performed while the television is in the passive mode.

43. A data packet adapted to be transmitted between two or more computer processes facilitating easier viewing, browsing and/or manipulating of media items, the data packet comprising:

information associated with a grouping of selected media items that are pulled from a host media store and sent to an interactive media frame display, the grouping being based at least in part upon metadata associated with the media items.

45. An interactive media frame display comprising:

means for retrieving one or more media items from at least one host location;

means for displaying the one or more media items on the interactive media frame;

means for receiving user input; and

means for performing one or more acts on the one or more media items based at least in part upon the user input.